Treasuries Rise for Second Day After 10-Year Sale Draws Demand

Treasuries advanced for a second day,
the first back-to-back gain in almost two weeks, after yields
near the highest level in two years helped attract demand at a
10-year note sale yesterday.

The U.S. is scheduled to sell $16 billion of 30-year bonds
today. The $24 billion auction yesterday drew a yield of 2.62
percent, down from 2.67 percent at the previous offering last
month, which was the most since July 2011. An increase in yields
in May and June shows investors are prepared for the Federal
Reserve to begin trimming its bond purchases, according to
Industrial Bank of Korea. (024110)

“The market is getting used to the tapering issue,” said
Chungkeun Oh, who invests in the world’s biggest bond markets
for the Industrial Bank in Seoul. “Worries about rising yields
are a bit overdone.”

The yield on the benchmark 10-year note sold yesterday fell
three basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 2.58 percent at
9:15 a.m. London time, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader
prices. The 2.5 percent security due August 2023 rose 9/32, or
$2.81 per $1,000 face amount, to 99 9/32.

The 10-year auction yield was lower than the rate of 2.635
percent projected by a Bloomberg News survey of eight of the
Fed’s 21 primary dealers, companies obligated to submit bids at
the debt sales.

Today’s Auction

The 30-year bonds being sold today yielded 3.64 percent in
pre-auction trading, compared with 3.66 percent at a previous
auction of similar-maturity debt on July 11. That was the
highest in almost two years. Investors bid for 2.26 times the
amount of debt offered last month, the least since August 2011.

Mizuho Asset Management Co. and Fukoku Mutual Life
Insurance Co. are both optimistic on Treasuries.

A reduction in the Fed’s $85 billion in monthly debt
purchases, known as quantitative easing, will end up supporting
U.S. government securities, according to Mizuho Asset
Management, which is part of Japan’s third-biggest bank as
measured by market value.

“The liquidity provided by the Fed mainly went to high-risk assets,” said Yusuke Ito, who helps oversee the equivalent
of $33.1 billion for the company in Tokyo. “I want QE tapering
to start soon because liquidity will go to safer assets like
Treasuries.”

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said on June 19 that the U.S.
central bank may start to reduce bond purchases this year and
end them entirely in 2014 if economic growth is in line with
central-bank projections.

Jobless Claims

Claims for jobless benefits rose from the lowest level in
more than five years last week, according to a Bloomberg News
survey before today’s Labor Department report. Applications for
unemployment insurance payments increased to 335,000 from
326,000 in the previous week, economists predict.

The increase in yields is making Treasuries more appealing,
Yoshiyuki Suzuki, head of fixed income at Fukoku Mutual in
Tokyo, said yesterday. The insurer has the equivalent of $58.5
billion in assets. The 10-year yield has climbed from a record-low 1.379 percent in July 2012.

Indirect bidders, the investor class that includes foreign
central banks, purchased 46.3 percent of the 10-year notes sold
yesterday, up from 38.6 percent on July 10. At an auction of
three-year debt on Aug. 6, indirect bidders bought 41.4 percent,
the most since August 2011.